"He’s slick and he’s got the charisma, he just needs to work on some original substance." Emma McAlpine reviews rising star Chris Ramsey's debut show.
Chris Ramsey might be a Geordie but the last thing he wants is any confrontation. In fact he only has to see a stranger walking purposefully towards him in the street, to make his heart race with fear. Over the course of the hour, he takes us through the three types of ‘social aggro’ he’s been exposed to: including social heckling, passive-aggressive behaviour and physical danger.
We hear about the time he was mocked by Jeremy Kyle, given an aggressive anal probe by a doctor and had a chilling encounter with a paedophile. Ramsey wants to be able to challenge the people that annoy him but instead he just gets mentally worked up. Even when he attempts to get involved with some social heckling, he’s full of admiration for the way his target deals with it. There isn’t much of a conclusion to be deduced, except perhaps a vague message to be kind to people and don’t assume the worst in them.
The subject matter on the whole, is fairly vanilla. Getting annoyed by people talking through films, embarrassing bowel problems and words you thought were cool when you were a teenager, like ‘gay’, are ten-a-penny topics on the comedy circuit. He does however, have a nice turn of phrase and a knack for constructing an amusing mental image. While some stand-ups can struggle at milking the full comic potential out of an extraordinary story, Ramsey can make a mundane one sparkle. Several anecdotes that could have been average are also made infinitely funnier by some old video and photo evidence.
What can't be faulted, is his delivery. Having supported some big stand-ups on tour and played a 2000-seater venue in Dubai, he oozes confidence out of every pore. He’s an affable, smiley performer who has the crowd eating out of his hand from the off, but he’s not afraid to tease them either. Twice he congratulates a man who laughs loudly at some of his more geeky references but when he misses the next one, scolds him: “You’ve let yourself down there mate.” I get the feeling if anyone less assured tried to pull off the same material, they wouldn’t get such an enthusiastic response.
In short, this is an impressive solo debut for the young newcomer. He’s slick and he’s got the charisma, he just needs to work on some original substance.
Chris Ramsey: Aggrophobic will be at the Pleasance Courtyard until the 30th August at 8:30pm.
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